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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124964">acceptance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>30 weeks of writing prompts [28]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Good Place (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cell Phones, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, Romantic Fluff, Short &amp; Sweet, Soulmates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:33:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>999</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124964</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>sharing earbuds brought eleanor and chidi closer together (and the lessons about morals did too) (week 28 of my 30 weeks of writing prompts challenge: earbuds)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chidi Anagonye &amp; Eleanor Shellstrop, Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>30 weeks of writing prompts [28]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1495385</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>acceptance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You know how you meet some people and you just seem to naturally despise them? That was Eleanor with Chidi. Well, despise is a strong word, but to put it lightly, Eleanor had no clue how Chidi was her soulmate because she could barely spend ten minutes in a room with the constantly panicking nerd, let alone eternity. </p><p>Additionally, Chidi was way too kind for Eleanor’s liking and she usually absolutely loathed anybody who was kind because she thought they were faking kindness. However, in Chidi’s case, he seemed genuinely caring, albeit caring and stressed, which infuriated Eleanor and drove her to treat him with a cold but cautious shoulder.</p><p>Chidi had good reason to dislike Eleanor too since she dumped the truth onto his shoulders ever since the first day they met and expected him to help her handle it. As a constant worrier, having a major problem never fared with Chidi and on top of that, Chidi thought he was supposed to spend eternity with somebody who would make him happy, not a mess of a human from Arizona.</p><p>Admittedly, Chidi was also a little scared of Eleanor because of her lack of fear. She just seemed completely fine with the fact that she belonged in the bad place, wasn’t scared of Chidi turning her in, and verbally attacked everything that somehow inconvenienced her.</p><p>So, Chidi and Eleanor obviously had their differences and feelings about each other but Chidi still agreed to teach Eleanor about morals and Eleanor agreed to try to become a better person.</p><p>A few weeks into moral lessons, Eleanor already started getting distracted and forgetful. On one particular occasion, Eleanor forgot to come to the lesson on time so while Chidi was waiting for her, he sat on the couch and considered how he landed himself in this situation. As he contemplated his purpose, his eyes landed on the phone Eleanor left on the coffee table. Her earbuds were still plugged into her phone and her music was accessible via phone screen so Chidi decided to just give Eleanor’s music a listen.</p><p>He put the earbuds in his ears, pressed play, and listened to Eleanor’s music carefully. Surprisingly, Eleanor’s playlist wasn’t just overplayed pop songs, as Chidi imagined. Some of the songs were extremely touching and emotional, so much so that Chidi was surprised Eleanor would listen to such deep music while others were just fun songs to dance to. He stopped listening after ten songs as he felt like he was intruding on her privacy by listening to her music.</p><p>To be honest, Chidi really enjoyed Eleanor’s music so he started listening to it. He made himself a playlist simply titled “E” with the songs he listened to from Eleanor’s phone. Chidi always listened to music with his earbuds, so Eleanor had no idea what he was listening to until she asked him one day.</p><p>“What do you even listen to all day? You always have your earbuds in when you’re contemplating the reason for the existence of morals,” Eleanor asked, biting into a chocolate chip cookie Tahani dropped off earlier.</p><p>Chidi, a terrible liar, instinctively attempted to lie “Uh, French Rap.”</p><p>“Nah, you don’t even speak French. Hand over an earbud, buddy,” Eleanor held out her hand and Chidi sighed in defeat, taking out an earbud so Eleanor could listen. </p><p>Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows together when the song transitioned to the next; then she abruptly exclaimed, “I know why this is so familiar! These are from my playlist. Where did you find my playlist?”</p><p>“You left your phone on the coffee table and I wanted to listen to your music,” Chidi explained sheepishly, glancing down at his hands as he actively tried to avoid meeting Eleanor’s eyes.</p><p>“Nice to know my soulmate looks through my stuff,” Eleanor quips before she shuts up and listens to the music with the Chidi.</p><p>The following day, during breakfast, Chidi listened to the playlist with his earbuds and Eleanor purposely sat on his right side so they could share earbuds and listen to music together. Eventually, sharing earbuds became a habit; Eleanor and Chidi would listen to the playlist while sharing earbuds and taking a walk through the town or eating dinner together. </p><p>Chidi showed Eleanor his music, explains what songs meant a lot to him and why. He showed her the songs that he listened to when he experienced his first breakup, songs he listened to when he was inspired to write, and songs that he listened to that made him nostalgic. In return, Eleanor showed him the songs that played the clubs she would go to with her friends, songs she enjoyed crying to when she thought about her traumatic childhood, and songs from her favorite TV shows. </p><p>During this time, Eleanor and Chidi’s hate for each other starting eroding away and their close bond began to develop. And, even better, moral lessons were easier now that Chidi would make references to song lyrics to explain philosophical theories, which kept Eleanor more interested and helped her understand complex concepts quicker.</p><p>The most defining moment in their strengthening relationship was when Chidi made Eleanor a playlist for her birthday. He wrote down Eleanor’s birthday on his calendar so he wouldn’t forget and took three days to carefully craft the perfect playlist. Knowing Eleanor’s traditionally judgemental attitude, Chidi thought she would be critical of his present to her but she actually was so moved by Chidi’s gesture, tears started welling up in her eyes.</p><p>Composed of Chidi’s favorite songs and her favorites, Eleanor’s playlist represented everything their relationship represented. Chidi and Eleanor both loved this new playlist dearly and started listening to it together, still sharing earbuds even though they could blast it throughout the house and none of their neighbors would care. </p><p>There was something so intimate about sharing earbuds that Chidi and Eleanor couldn’t exactly identify but they knew that by sharing their favorite music with earbuds, they felt more connected than ever.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>you can find me on tumblr<a href="https://luckysam78.tumblr.com/">@luckysam78</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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